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Frank Iero
Frank Iero (born October 31, 1981) is a musician who was the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist of the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance as well as the vocalist of the post-hardcore band Leathermouth and electronic-hardcore act Death Spells. Early life He was born in Belleville, New Jersey and grew up in Kearny, New Jersey.[1] As a child, he suffered numerous bouts of bronchitis and ear infections, which meant he spent a lot of his childhood in the hospital.[2] Frank is also lactose intolerant and has other various food allergies.[3] He went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but dropped out to go on tour with My Chemical Romance. Iero's parents split when he was young and he grew up living with his mother, who lent out her basement to her son's many band practices; his father and grandfather were musicians and both were big influences on Iero when he was young. His father urged him to play drums, but Iero later began playing the guitar. Music career Frank started playing in local bands on the New Jersey punk scene at age 11. Before joining My Chemical Romance he served as frontman for the punk band Pencey Prep. The band released an album, Heartbreak in Stereo, on the independent Eyeball Records before disbanding. Whilst playing with Pencey Prep, he became friends with Gerard Way and the other My Chemical Romance members, became a fan of their original demo and helped them get their first shows. After his band broke up, Frank played in several bands, including I Am A Graveyard, Hybrid, Sector 12, and American Nightmare before being offered the slot of rhythm guitar in My Chemical Romance. Iero is also the frontman of hardcore punk quintet Leathermouth, who released their debut album XO in January 2009, on Epitaph Records. He is involved in a tribute band to The Cure named The Love Cats, after the song of the same name, and played bass with Reggie And The Full Effect on their farewell tour. He was a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.[4] On December 7, 2010, Iero parted ways with the record company Skeleton Crew he and his wife co-founded years earlier in order to concentrate on his family and his music with My Chemical Romance stating that, although he would have loved to carry on, he could not juggle his career with the band, the new additions to his family (newborn daughters) and co-running a business at the same time.[5] His first solo song 'This Song Is A Curse' was released as a bonus track on the official soundtrack to the Tim Burton film, Frankenweenie. He later posted an anti-Xmas track he recorded as a joke in 15 minutes, and followed that up with a cover of the song 'Be My Baby', originally made famous by The Ronettes. In early 2013, Iero and James Dewees announced that they were working on a new project, an electronic-hardcore band called Death Spells. They also announced a tour supporting Mindless Self Indulgence and a performance at the Skate and Surf Festival in New Jersey. They're also working on a full length album and have posted demos on their website. He later performed new solo songs live and posted others to his Soundcloud, then implied he had a full album worth of songs wrote with more content being created on a continuous basis. This was confirmed to be for a solo album.[6] On November 28, 2013, he announced via his official website and his Twitter account that a two-track release entitled "For Jamia..." will be released digitally and via limited vinyl on December 10. [7] Equipment In the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, Iero mainly used Gibson SG's & Epiphone Les Paul guitars (most notably his white Les Paul nicknamed 'Pansy' which proved popular amongst his fans but has since been broken while onstage) and Marshall amps. He has since switched to using Gibson Les Pauls (with the Neck Pick-up removed) and occasionally uses a Gibson SG. He also used a Fender Stratocaster in the Desolation Row video. He has recently collaborated with Epiphone to design the Wilshire Phant-O-Matic guitar[8] which he used onstage for the My Chemical Romance 'World Contamination' Tour, the Honda Civic Tour and for the Reading and Leeds festivals.[9] He also uses the Orange Rockerverb MKII 100 head and Orange 160 Watt Guitar 4x10 Vintage Cabinet. Personal life and political views On February 5, 2007 Iero married his long-term girlfriend Jamia Nestor after proposing on May 25, 2006 during the recording of The Black Parade.[10] Iero has many tattoos including logos for the bands Black Flag and The Misfits, symbols of his love for his home state, New Jersey, a matching 'revenge' tattoo with James Dewees and others by acclaimed tattoo artist Kat Von D: a Frankenstein's monster and portraits of his grandmothers and grandfather, all of which were featured in Von D's book High Voltage Tattoo and the latter of which was done on an episode of her reality show LA Ink in which Iero featured.[2]In the aforementioned book, Von D states that she was present at Iero's wedding indicating that the two have remained close friends. Iero has expressed his pro-gay rights stance on numerous occasions, including wearing a pro-gay marriage t-shirt on tour and his home-custom red 'Homophobia is gay' t-shirt which has become a fan favourite. He also revealed to Rock Sound magazine that he voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. He has been a vegetarian since childhood after discovering the mistreatment animals endure in slaughterhouses and rearing farms and in 2008 PETA dubbed Iero one of the World's Sexiest Vegetarians, alongside Alyssa Milano.[11] On September 7, 2010, Iero announced on the My Chemical Romance official website that he and his wife Jamia had become parents of twin girls named Cherry and Lily.[12] On April 6, 2012, he announced via his official Twitter account that his wife had given birth to their son, Miles.[13][14] Discography Pencey Prep *Heartbreak in Stereo (Eyeball Records) - November 26, 2001